President Obama has a history of supporting constructive international programs that can reach women smallholder farmers with critical investments, but he got it wrong with the New Alliance, and it needs to be scrapped.

Given the fractured and evolving global political landscape, both sides, and neither side, will achieve all of its objectives. Swimming against the tide has its own appeal at a time when virtually everything about the world order seems to be up for grabs.

While international and domestic problems bombard us daily, strong signals indicate that a new kind of revolution is afoot that has the potential to open doors to people who have been left out of jobs, and the mainstream economy.

What the world is now witnessing in Ukraine is a political struggle between two different visions of modernity, good governance and a decent society. It is an echo, 20 years later, of what happened in 1989 and thereafter in many Warsaw Pact countries. They are now mostly members of the European Union and of NATO, living proof that history is not destiny. There is no reason why it could not happen now in Ukraine, in Russia. . .and elsewhere. The choice is for Ukrainians, Russians and others to make. But Europe and the United States should be there to help.

The de facto expropriation of Crimea by Russia raises serious questions about the perceived legitimacy of the new government in Kiev, ethnicity in Ukraine, Russian history, Russian pride, and Russia's ability to project its power in the future.

It is understandable that there is a limited appetite for healthcare investment in the U.S. and around the globe today. Purse-strings are tight, and the outcomes of healthcare investment can seem far in the distance. But this is mistaken.